


Getting Acquainted

by Angylsmuse, Orithain



Series: Fourth Pass [43]
Category: Dragonriders of Pern - Anne McCaffrey
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-28
Updated: 2017-01-28
Packaged: 2018-09-20 12:17:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,064
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9490697
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Angylsmuse/pseuds/Angylsmuse, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Orithain/pseuds/Orithain
Summary: A dramatic first meeting leaves a pair of dragonriders wanting to get better acquainted.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted November 2002.

_**P11.07.14** _   
_**Babalon Weyr** _

Wingleader B’tem and Armeganth dove at a clump of Thread that had managed to slip through the wing formation, flaming as they went, and Ben found himself coughing at the firestone fumes.  Shards, the Fall was bad today.  Already his wing had lost a number of riders, and they’d barely been up a quarter of a candlemark.

The Infirmary had to be running over with casualties and the dragonhealers run off their feet comforting, soothing and salving dragons.  _Please, Faranath, don’t let me and Gant be among them this time,_ the bronzerider asked silently.

The weather conditions only added to the problems of today’s Threadfall.  High winds coupled with a grey sky that threatened rain or possibly even sleet made it almost impossible to see their ancient enemy.  It made flying dangerous and caused injuries to increase exponentially.

As dragon and rider banked to the left, preparing to ascend and rejoin their wing, Ben could see a flash of green out of the corner of his eye just below him.  One of the greenriding HADs, he guessed.

_It is Sylvinth and her rider,_ Gant said, interrupting his thoughts and supplying him with the names he was searching for.

A flash of silver grey slightly above and to the right of the rider caught his attention and sent a spike of panic through him.  “Shards!”  Not enough time for her to get out of the way or for them to warn the pair, only enough time for both rider and dragon to react.  HADs were almost as precious as golds, so there was no decision to be made.

Going _between_ , Ben and Gant blinked out between the greenrider and the Thread clump.  _Shards, this is gonna_ hurt _!_

Greenrider Talyssa’s head whipped around as she heard Armeganth’s warning even as the big bronze placed himself between her and the danger. “No!” she screamed, the wingleader and his dragon were replaced in her mind with another dragon she’d seen Threaded only three months earlier, her mother’s dragon. Again she heard the screams of both dragon and rider before they vanished _between_ never to return.

Her memories vanished beneath the weight of the agonized cries here and now, and she frantically called for help from anyone who could come. Tears streamed down her face as she watched the other dragons lend Armeganth their support to get him safely down to where healers were already coming running.

Distraught by the pair’s injuries taken to protect her and Sylvinth, Tal asked for and received permission to land and check on them. The moment Syl touched the ground, the young HAD sprinted toward the bronzerider.

_Oh please, let him be all right, let them both be all right,_ she thought desperately, reaching out to the bronze tentatively, afraid of what she might find.

“You were both extremely brave, extremely foolish and extremely lucky!” the healer admonished B’tem as she patched up his left thigh, which, despite the fact that it looked like raw meat, wasn’t that bad.  The first layer of skin had been eaten away along his thigh and down Gant’s hide, leaving both raw and bloody but otherwise not seriously damaged.

“It’ll be about a month before Gant can go _between_ again, and you need about the same amount of time to heal.  No strenuous activity, no ‘flying’, no pressure on your thigh for the first sevenday.  If I could keep you in the infirmary, I would, but we’re gonna be full, and yours isn’t the worst injury.  I just don’t like the fact that you both will have to fly up to your weyr and back down.  Maybe I should see if I can stick you in one of the unoccupied gold weyrs.  I just wish I could assign a healer to you.”

“Stop worrying about us, we’ll be fine!” Ben replied with a cheerful smile and an over-bright attitude.  They’d been lucky - this time.  What would have killed the greenriding pair had only grounded them for a month.  It had been worth it, but shells, he hoped he’d never have to do that again!

“You don’t have to worry, healer,” Tal piped up as she arrived in time to hear the end of the conversation. “Considering that they were injured saving _our_ lives, Syl and I will do whatever we can for them.” She carefully looked the bronzerider over, then sighed in relief when she realized his injuries weren’t as bad as she’d feared.

“That was an absolutely insane thing to do!” she berated him, anger momentarily replacing the terror she’d felt. “And thank you,” she added more softly. “I’m not sure Sylvinth and I could have survived it. Oh, I’m Talyssa,” she introduced herself belatedly.

“I figured as much when you started laying into me,” Ben grinned tiredly.  “Bronzerider B’tem at your service, lady.  But if you will excuse me for a moment, I need to make sure Gant, Armeganth, is okay, really okay.  Knowing him, he’s probably preening over the attention of the dragonhealers and any green in the area, but _I_ need to be sure, the big baby,” Ben continued with an indulgent grin.

“And you really don’t have to take care of us; we’re big boys, really,” Ben continued with a lopsided smile, touched that the young woman cared so much that she was willing to put up with a couple of invalids for a month.  She was a sweet little thing - and cute too!

Tal laughed softly, relieved that things had turned out so well. She didn’t think she’d have been able to stand another death so close to her. She met the bronzerider’s eyes, finally calm enough to notice how attractive he was, and she flushed faintly.

_It’s about time!_ Sylvinth said with some asperity.

_Hush! Just because you’re besotted with the dragon doesn’t mean I have to think the same of the rider,_ Tal teased. _But this time I do._

“I understand,” she finally replied to Ben. “I’d be the same if it was Syl. But he _is_ all right, and there’s only one green around him.” She smiled faintly. “Sylvinth seems determined to thank him properly. It’ll be my pleasure to do the same for his rider.” The determined expression in her eyes would have told anyone who knew her that she was not going to be dissuaded.

Ben cocked his head and studied the determined jut of Tal’s chin.  Laughing, he gave in gracefully.  “Lady, you may want to watch how you say things.  Some less honorable men might take that statement the wrong way,” he teased her.  “But if you think you’re up to taking care of Gant and I, well, who are we to refuse a lady, or ladies as this case may be.  I just hope you know what you’re in for, little thing that you are.” Ben’s eyes sparkled and danced as he said this, waiting for a reaction of some kind from the tiny whirlwind.

Tal smiled sweetly, a warning in itself. “What makes you think it would be the wrong way?” She looked him up and down. “Yes, I guess it would be. Someone your age would have trouble keeping up with me when _not_ injured. Don’t worry though, I try never to pick on anyone who doesn’t have a chance,” she teased as she helped him to his feet and toward where the dragons waited.

“More like your tiny little legs won’t let you keep up with _me_ ,” Ben teased back, his smile widening even more.  Taking it slowly, the bronzerider tested his weight on the injury and grimaced in pain.  “Awh, shells.”

The healer who’d been standing there smugly simply handed him the pair of crutches she’d had at the ready.  “Just return ‘em when you’re healed up enough to walk under your own steam,” she requested before walking away to see to other patients.

“Sharding know-it-all,” Ben whispered but with a wink and another brilliant smile.  “So, as you said, let’s go see my dragon.  Lead on, mite!”

Tal growled softly. “Call me that again, and you’ll be needing the healer again! I wonder if I could get her to apply numbweed to your tongue.” She led him out of the infirmary and toward where both their dragons waited, Syl hovering protectively - and possessively - over the bronze.

“Oh, I don’t know, I kinda like it, it’s cute - like you,” B’tem replied softly, his eyes sparkling and his mouth quirking.

“Well, looks like your days of chasing every and any green and gold are over, Gant old boy; I’d say you’ve been claimed,” Ben laughed as he watched the green’s antics.  “Congrats, buddy, you’re mated without a flight even!”

_Well, there are worse ways to go, and don’t look now, rider mine, but I’d say you have a growling and hissing green of your own. Better reassure her before she takes a chunk out of that weyrwoman who’s approaching._

“Hunh, wha?  Oh hey, Taima!  How goes Babalon’s newest gold weyrling?” he asked with a brotherly smile.  Poor little thing, she was so young and had been hurt so badly in life, she really did deserve to be Reinith’s rider.  “Behave, she’s like my kid sister and a sweet little thing who’s had nothing but bad all her life and is finally getting some good,” he whispered to the glowering greenrider.  “Besides, I think you’d like her.”

“Am... am I interrupting, Ben?” Taima asked hesitantly.  “Rei said you’d been hurt, and I was worried, so they let me come and check on you.”  Taima looked hesitantly at the pretty greenrider standing next to her friend.  “You’re the new HAD, aren’t you?  I’ll get to fly with you one day, once me and Rei know what we’re doing, that is.”

Tal felt the tension she hadn’t even really been aware of release, and she smiled at the goldrider. “I’ll look forward to it. And yes, I’m the HAD, new to Babalon at least, Talyssa. My brothers and sisters and I moved here recently after our parents died. I could use some friends.”

Despite her words, she still remained possessively close to the bronzerider, making it clear to the other woman that she had a claim. Tal glanced up at Ben, wondering what it was about him that had her in such a spin. He was handsome and a bronzerider, but as a HAD she pretty much had her pick of dragonriders. She’d enjoyed flights in the past, but B’tem made her belly knot. Her eyes traced his features, and she momentarily forgot the goldrider as she admired Ben.

“I...  umm... I’d like that.  I didn’t have much time for friends until Reinith picked me and then, well weyrling training _and_ learning how to be a weyrwoman, but I guess you’d know what that was like ‘cause you have your own gift that you must have had to learn to control.  Anyway, I’m babbling.  Maybe I’ll see you around sometime.  Hope you feel better, Ben, see ya!”  Turning tail and picking up her dress hem, Taima scurried away, her face hot.  If that was how she looked at C’nar, no wonder the bronzerider tended to run the other way.  Shards, she felt like she was on fire!

“Shame on you, lady,” Ben grinned quietly.  “Scaring away an innocent little thing like Taima.  Why, she no more has designs on me than the Senior Weyrwoman does.  Besides, she’s besotted with C’nar - only has eyes for him and all that...”

“Don’t flatter yourself,” Tal snorted, though she didn’t really deny her interest. How could she? She did want him, and she intended to get him. “Shouldn’t you be paying more attention to him,” she gestured toward Gant, who had Syl trying to curl against him, “than me?

“Though if you’re going to concentrate on me, I guess I can do this...” She rose onto tiptoes, her hands on his shoulders, and kissed him.

Ben stood still for long moments in surprise then wrapped one arm around her tiny waist, the other still wrapped around one of his crutches and he pulled her up his long body until she was mouth to mouth with him.  “If you’re gonna kiss, do it right,” he demanded hotly before thrusting his tongue inside and taking her mouth passionately. 

When he finally set her down on her feet again, he had a smug smile on his face even as he bent to pick up the discarded crutches.  “That’s how you kiss a man, mite,” he chuckled as he moved towards Armeganth’s injured side to check on it himself.

Talyssa staggered slightly, trying to find her balance. Her eyes a bit wide, she stared at the bronzerider, a tiny smile teasing at her lips. So he thought she didn’t know how to kiss a man, did he? It was going to be her pleasure to teach him just how very wrong he was.

“Hurry up and heal, Bronzerider B’tem,” she said cheerfully. “Once you’re up to it, I’ll be more than happy to show just how I do kiss a man.”

“Promises, promises, little mite,” Ben replied distractedly as he examined Gant’s hide carefully.  “Heyyy, not too bad there, buddy.  You’ll be good as new in under a month, and once that new hide toughens, we can get back to flaming and flying!”

Tal got a distant look in her eyes momentarily, then burst into laughter. “Syl says that ought to be just about perfect. She should be rising in five or six sevendays.” She grinned at Ben. “I guess you’d better rest that thigh, bronzerider, if you expect to keep up with me.”

“Keep up with you?” Ben snorted indignantly, the sound echoed rather breezily by Armeganth, who wuffled in disgust.  “Sweetheart, we’ve flown _golds_ ; we sure as shards can keep up with a couple of pipsqueaks like you and your lady!”

“’Pipsqueaks,’” Tal repeated in disbelief. “You’ll be lucky if you can _catch_ us!”

Judging by the way Sylvinth moved away from the bronze, she agreed with her rider.

“I suggest you go find one of those golds to look after you _and_ to fly,” she snapped, turning on her heel.

“Hey, if you can’t take a jo... OWH, shards!” the bronze rider yelped as he lost control of his crutches trying to chase after the young woman and came down hard on one knee in order to prevent additional injury to his Threadscored one. 

“FUCK, fuck, fuck, fuck,” he gasped fighting the pain.

Even though Gant himself was injured, he bugled in distress and all but wrapped himself, head to tail, around his rider, protecting him and letting him get control of himself.  _B’tem?_ Armeganth crooned softly, _Do you need a healer again?_

Tal hesitated in her retreat at the sounds of B’tem’s pain and the dragon’s distress, then kept going. She should have known a bronzerider would only be interested in a goldrider, not a mere greenrider, even if she was a HAD. Still, she didn’t want to see him hurt, so she bespoke a dragon whose rider was helping the healers, asking someone to come see to Ben.

_All I want is someone to love me, Syl, is that so much to ask?_ she asked wistfully. _No, stay with Armeganth, love. I’ll be fine,_ she added when the green started to follow her.

_You are my rider. We belong together._

_We are together, always. Stay with your mate, Sylvinth._

She wandered down an empty corridor, lost in thought.

Armeganth, assured that B’tem would recover, did something he never thought he would. He spoke to another rider who was not his own.

_B’tem said what he did because you made him feel less than a man, greenrider Talyssa.  He does not care about the color of your dragon anymore than I care that she is a green and not a gold.  We look beneath the surface for more important qualities than hide color - like the goodness of the heart.  Yours is good, and he likes you, but he will not follow after because he cannot, and he does not know how to apologize for a wrong he does not understand,_ the bronze spoke eloquently.

Talyssa stopped in her tracks, frowning unhappily. _I... I didn’t mean to make him feel that way._ She thought over their conversation. _I don’t even know how I did._

As she spoke to Armeganth, she retraced her steps, returning to the others. “I’m sorry,” she said quietly, staring at the floor, unable to meet B’tem’s eyes. “I’m probably overly sensitive right now. Today... brought back memories. My mom was Threaded, _died_ , only three months ago, and my dad died of firehead a month before that. I... I’m sorry,” she repeated helplessly.

Sylvinth crooned to her comfortingly.

“Hey, do you see me blaming you, mite?” Ben replied softly, with a lopsided grin.  “I have this tendency of sticking my foot in my mouth.  Besides I’ve got a fairly large ego, and being told that I won’t be able to catch a pretty lady I’m interested is quite a blow.  Made me stick my foot in it up to my knee.  _I’m_ sorry.  Can we start over?  Besides you’re supposed to be taking care of me, right?”

Tal glanced up, a quick flash of amber. “You’re interested in me?” she asked uncertainly, ignoring the rest for the moment.

“Doubt I’d be sticking my foot in my mouth as much as I am if I wasn’t.  Not every day that a woman leaves me tongue-tied and clumsy, you know.”

The greenrider smiled wryly. “If this is tongue-tied, I’d hate to hear you being eloquent.” She came a little closer, then frowned. “What happened to the healer I asked them to send?”

“I sent ‘em away,” Ben admitted.  “It’s nothing, just came down hard on my knee.  Probably have some gravel burns or something, maybe a bit of bleeding, nothing major.  It’s just a scrape, and the Fall is bad; they don’t need the distraction of taking care of a minor injury that I can take care of myself - once I get up to my weyr, that is,” he grumbled. 

“Gotta wait for a weyrling to take me up ‘cause I don’t want Gant to have to carry me.  He doesn’t need the added weight aggravating his injuries,” the bronzerider continued.

“And after saying I would help, I walked away without making sure you got to your weyr.” Tal closed her eyes and groaned. “If you can trust me that much, Syl and I can take you to your weyr,” she offered quietly, a flush of embarrassment heating her cheeks.

“I know that line; you’re just trying to get me alone so you can have your wicked way with my poor, defenseless self,” Ben teased quietly, running a finger over a hot cheek.

“Of course I’ll trust you, Greenrider HAD Talyssa.  With my life and that of Armeganth’s if it ever came down to it,” he continued seriously.

Tal looked up at him helplessly. “I don’t know what to say or how to act around you,” she admitted, showing her age for one of the rare times. She sighed. “I’m making a fool of myself, aren’t I?”

“All you have to do is act like Talyssa.  I kinda like her, in fact I like her a lot,” B’tem husked.  “And no, you’re not making a fool of yourself.  You’re sweet - and you’re real.  I like that in a woman.

“So, how about taking me up to my weyr, Greenrider Mite Ma’am, and keep me company for as long as you feel ready to, not that I’ll be much company; got some fellis to take when I finally get my butt into bed,” the bronzerider grimaced in disgust.  “But you could keep me company until I fall asleep.”

Tal smiled almost shyly. “I’d like that. Until you’re feeling up to more,” she teased, a hint of her normal self peeking out. She held out a hand to B’tem to help him onto Syl. “And I’ll be happy to keep you company till then.”

“I’m feeling, lady.  Believe me, I’m feeling.  Unfortunately my thigh won’t let me do more than ‘feel’ right now.   But it might be better this way, after all.  This way I get to know my mite before I get to know my greenrider, if you follow.”

“You’re never going to stop calling me that, are you?” she asked with resignation. “Just keep in mind that I don’t like to share,” she warned. “That’s something that the woman and the greenrider have in common. But yeah, I’d love the chance to get to know you.” She settled behind him on Syl, who took off carefully, making sure not to jar the injured bronzerider on her back.

“I think I could get used to having a possessive green all to myself, yeah, I really could.  And no, I’m not, I _like_ mite.  It suits you, somehow,” Ben grinned, holding on to the young woman and letting Gant instruct her as to which weyr was theirs.

“Guess I can put up with it,” she decided, smiling as she pressed close. Once Syl landed on the ledge, she helped Ben down, supporting the bronzerider’s weight for a moment till he caught his balance. “You need sleep,” she said emphatically.

“Gonna tuck me in, too?” Ben teased as he let the young woman lead him into the bedroom.  “First thing’s first, gotta clean up my knee though.  Hate to do this, but can you give me a hand?”

“Well, it’s not my first choice of ways to get my hands on you,” Tal teased, grinning, “but I think I can handle it. Guess we need to undress you first, right?” She smiled wickedly.

“Ummm, I think I can take care of the pants myself; how about you get a wet cloth and the numbweed?  It’s on the shelf above the towels in the bathingroom,” Ben murmured, his face flushing red.  Last thing he wanted his mite to see was just how much just being _near_ her affected him.

Talyssa’s knowing smile as she walked out made him more than aware he hadn’t succeeded in fooling her, but shardit it all, he couldn’t do anything about it until his leg healed.  Groaning softly as he stripped off his pants over his bandaged thigh and the new wound on his knee, B’tem grabbed a pair of soft jersey shorts and pulled them up just in time as Tal walked back into the room.

“That was, umm, quick.  Don’t tell me you were hoping to catch me with my pants down?”

“Would that be so terrible?” Tal teased, eyeing him up and down. “But it wasn’t intentional; it just didn’t take long to get the things.” She could see his erection through the shorts, and she chewed her lip uncertainly, not sure how he’d react to what she was about to suggest.

“I could... help you with that,” she offered quietly. Before he could reply, she added, “It’s only _flying_ that’s forbidden, after all.”

“Part of me would love to take you up on your offer, sweetheart, but I want our first time together to be both of us, and, baby, I intend to be flying all night,” Ben husked, his eyes darkening to almost black. 

“Now how ‘bout you help me patch myself up and keep me company while I fall asleep, okay?”

Tal smiled. “Awfully sure of yourself, aren’t you?” She didn’t give Ben a chance to reply though before nudging him to get him to sit down on the bed. “Let me see what you’ve done to yourself.”

Once she had the knee cleaned and bandaged and Ben settled comfortably amidst his pillows, she curled up beside him on his mostly uninjured side, nestling against him. “Next time I spend the night in this bed, things will be very different,” she said quietly. “I expect to get no sleep at all.”

“I can guarantee you won’t, mite,” B’tem replied with a lazy smile as he bussed her forehead with his lips.  “But does that mean you’re gonna spend your nights sleeping on the couch until I heal up?”

Tal snorted. “Hardly. So, okay, it won’t be the _next_ time I’m here, but it will be sometime soon. And I think it’s going to be worth the wait.” She rubbed her cheek against him, sighing contentedly.


End file.
